COLUMBIA, S.C. — The University of South Carolina has renamed its law school in honor of alumnus Joseph F. Rice, who made a $30 million donation to the school that the university says will elevate its status.
The announcement took place outside the law school Friday, where the governor, faculty, staff, students, and other guests joined the Rice family to unveil the new name.
Rice's $30 million investment will establish an endowed student scholarship fund, partial scholarships, and four new endowed professorships.
Rice got his law degree from USC in 1979. He's gone on to become a lawyer in many civil actions, including the $246 billion settlement with the tobacco industry, settlements involving the Deep Horizon BP Spill in the Gulf of Mexico, and lawsuits against the pharmaceutical industry over opioids. He's a co-founder of the Motley Rice law firm.
"I never imagined when I got out of law school, and I took my first job...making 18,000 dollars a year that I would ever be in a position to make a significant difference in the lives of so many people that I think this scholarship program will do," Rice said at the renaming ceremony. "It's someone of a dream but I'm just privileged that I'm in a position to do it."
The investment will also create stipends for students completing a children's law concentration, career and professional development funding for students, as well as additional training, awards and support.
"An investment of this magnitude is often described as transformative, but this word does not do justice to the far-reaching impact that Joe Rice's gift promises for the University of South Carolina," USC President Michael Amiridis said.
USC Student Bar Association President JD Jacobus says this contribution will help within the law school and across the state.
"This contribution will empower generations of students to further our law schools mission of producing not just commitment legal practitioners but upstanding leaders and public servants."
As a proud alumnus of the law school, Rice said he wanted to give back to a program that gave him so much.
"To the students and professors that benefit from these scholarships, I hope you will look at the law school name on this building or the logo and you won't see my name but you will hear me and my family say it: we believe in you," Rice added.
USC says this is the university's academic unit to be named for a donor. The Darla Moore School of Business was named for financial investor Darla Moore in 1988, and the Arnold School of Public Health was named in 2002 for business leader Norman J. Arnold.